Melvin Brown And The MPs

From: Kevin Randle <KRandle993.nul>
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:05:03 EST
Archived: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:06:00 -0500
Subject: Melvin Brown And The MPs
List, All,
Over the years, the skeptics, the debunkers, and even the Air
Force has scoffed at the idea that some of the witnesses who
have claimed to seen the craft or the bodies at Roswell would
have been in a position to do so. Maybe the best example of this
is Melvin Brown who was assigned to the 509th Bomb Group in July
1947 as a cook. The question they ask is, "Why would a cook be
out on guard duty?"
Many might think this is a fair question, but what it reveals is
a lack of understanding of military doctrine. It is a question
that can be answered easily by those who have some knowledge of
the way the military functions.
Let me point out that my Officers Advance Course in the Army was
in Military Police. We learned the doctrine and we practiced the
doctrine. During that training, I served as the company
commander for an exercise that tested the capability of a
military police company to function in a large and hostile
environment. Not only was the company tasked with guarding the
division TOC - Tactical Operations Center - guarding the
prisoners of war, protecting the bridges in the area, manning
checkpoints, but also patrolling a large area. Clearly a company
did not have sufficient assets for all these missions, and
ignoring some of the tasking was not an option.
Following doctrine that was more than sixty years-old, I
requested the band and all the support personnel I could get.
This assumes that all enlisted soldiers have attended basic
training which teaches fundamental soldiering skills including
marksmanship, care of the weapon, walking a post - guarding -
various structures or areas, and the basics of patrolling. In
other words, everyone who was an enlisted soldier in the Army
had been through this training. Many of the officers, depending
on the source of the commission also had attended similar
training.
This means that band members, maintenance personnel and even
cooks, have this basic knowledge and would be capable of
guarding a hangar or running a checkpoint along a road,
especially if that road was in New Mexico and not in hostile
territory.
Now, in July 1947, the 509th had two units tasked with MP
functions. The MP company took take of patrolling the downtown
streets and the like. The 390rd Air Service Squadron was tasked
with functions on the base such as guarding the restricted areas
and the like. Edwin Easley told me about the breakdown of
functions. Off post it was the MPs, basically and on post it
was the Service Squadron.
When they were further tasked with guarding and protecting the
recovered material, whatever that material might have been, they
did not have the option of abdicating their other, now lower
priority missions. That meant, for those few days in July, they
had to fulfill their regular duties plus supply men to guard the
debris field and impact site, or sites, man the checkpoints on
the roads leading to the various sites, and preform extra guard
details on the base.
This means that they would have swept up all those whose jobs
would allow them to miss a few days and if they found some cooks
who weren't necessary to the functioning of the mess halls,
well, they would have been grabbed. It means, quite simply, that
inside of military doctrine, there was no reason to exclude
Brown simply because he was a cook. First and foremost he was a
soldier and would be expected to perform those tasks with a
certain degree of professionalism.
So, when we learn that a soldier who was clearly in Roswell at
the proper time was pulled from one duty and assigned another,
it is not outside the realm of possibility. The only people who
seem to reject this idea are those who have not service or who
do not understand military doctrine.
KRandle
BTW - For those interested, I have posted at:
www.KevinRandle.blogspot.com
some notes about Brigadier General Harry Cordes who was a young
Lieutenant in Roswell in 1947. This deals with both his
observations and those of his widow.
Listen to 'Strange Days... Indeed' - The PodCast
See:
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/sdi/program/subscribers/